Or at least remembrance of the Divine all the time, pushing the ego back consciously always. So for me, never could I do any of this, even for a few hours. I have listened to stories of Hanuman, also about The Complete surrender of the Divine Mother to Sri Aurobindo, but yet to come across anyone ( not involutionary beings, but ordinary humans with devotion) of my time, who has made complete surrender to the Divine. I want to know if that’s possible for a Sadhaka?
Everything is possible if there is sincerity of aspiration. That is the main difficulty for everyone. Something in us is attracted to the spiritual life, even wants it, but there are parts that resist. Slowly, if one persists in one’s aspiration, then the resistances diminish and one walks the path in real earnest.
As to surrender, it implies handing over one’s destiny to the Divine and offering oneself in His Service. It means a faith that nothing can disturb, a complete trust in the Divine regardless of circumstances, a total acceptance of and a complete obedience and adhesion to the Divine Will. If the surrender is true, then the sadhaka has no more complaints about anything anymore. He is happy with what the Divine gives him and is equally happy with whatever the Divine, in His supreme Wisdom, takes away from him. He regards his life no longer as his own but as belonging to the Divine. To serve Him, love Him, seek Him, know Him, live for Him is all he asks. His family, country, religion, everything is the Divine.
Surrender also means another thing. It is to give oneself to the Divine. Surrender of the mind means to think of the Divine and to unconditionally accept, without anymore doubts, the teachings and the path that is shown. Surrender of the heart means to turn all emotions towards God, to love all creatures and see them as masks of God. Surrender of life means to have no other goal except to serve the Divine in whatever way He may direct us. Surrender of the body means to regard the body no more as a means to satisfy desires but as an instrument of the Divine.
All doubts and hesitations vanish when the surrender is complete and one is full of a quiet inner joy and peace that surpasses everything. Whatever difficulties of nature still remain, one offers them to the Divine for purification and transformation. Surrender does not mean that one puts no effort, but that whatever effort still is needed is done with a glad heart, knowing that the effort is possible due to the Grace and the result anyways belongs to the Divine. By the act of surrender, one does not lose the individuality. That is the goal of the Adwaitin. One simply loses the ego-self but only to discover the true self, which knows itself as a permanent portion of the Divine, a part and parcel of the Divine Mother.
I have been fortunate to have known some living examples of such sadhaka in the Ashram as well as outside. They are few, no doubt, but the world has never been devoid of such people whose presence itself is a tremendous help to the earth.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
